New Law on Booking Photos
Avoyelles Parish Sheriff David L. Dauzat would like to notify everyone in Avoyelles Parish that due to the passage of House Bill No. 729, the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office will start to limit the release of booking photos when people are arrested for nonviolent crimes.
Under the new law, with a few exceptions, we will be prohibited from publishing booking photographs when someone is arrested, and until they are convicted. The new law provides exemptions which include fugitives, if it will assist in the apprehension of the person, if that person is an imminent threat or danger to another person or the public, per a Court-Ordered Release, and individuals charged with a crime of violence, sex offenses, and cruelty to animals.
All booking photos, regardless of the seriousness of the offense, will be subject to release once the offender has pleaded guilty or is convicted of crimes related to their arrests.
As a law enforcement agency, we have and will continue to provide this information to the public as the laws of Louisiana permit. In the past, present, and future, all persons named or shown in photographs and/or videos as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not yet been convicted of that criminal offense and all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.